Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp food ration coupon used by an Austrian Jewish inmate
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Width: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm)
Creator(s)
- Adolph Blau (Subject)
Biographical History
Adolph Blau was born in Vienna, Austria. During World War I (1914-1918), he served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army and was awarded the Iron Cross and the Silver Medal of Bravery. After the war, he received a license from the Austrian Government to sell tobacco, a trade reserved for veterans. In 1924, Adolph married Elsa Rosenthal at the Turkish Temple, a Sephardic synagogue. They were observant Jews and had two children, Gertrude, born March 14, 1925, and Herbert, born July 28, 1931. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and annexed the country. Anti-Jewish legislation was soon enacted to exclude Jews from Austrian society. The November 1938 Kristallnacht [Night of Broken Glass] pogrom was particularly brutal in Austria. Thousands of Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps. Adolph's status as a decorated, disabled war veteran gave the family some preotection and, with the help of friends, he was able to maintain his tobacco trade a while longer. In August 1942, the family, which included his mother-in-law, Fanny Rosenthal, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, avoiding Auschwitz possibly because of his veteran's status. The family was separated, as men and women were housed in different barracks. Elsa served as forced labor in a Messerschmitt airplane factory. Some elements of family life were maintained, as Herbert was Bar Mitzahed by Rabbi Leo Baeck in 1944. Soon afterwards, however, Gertrude was deported to Auschwitz. On May 2, 1945, the Germans transferred administration of the camp to the International Red Cross. Gertrude had located and rejoined them around this time. The family was sent to Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany, where Adolph served on the Jewish Committee and as a director of the ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training) vocational school. In November 1947, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Adolph and his family were permitted to immigrate to the United States. They eventually settled in Vineland, New Jersey, where Adolph died in 1958.
Archival History
The ration coupon was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Jeffrey A. Gordon, the son of Gertrude Blau Gordon.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jeffrey A. Gordon
Scope and Content
Ration coupon used by Adolph Blau and his family when they were imprisoned in the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. All currency was confiscated upon entry and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. Adolph, his wife, two children, and mother-in-law were deported from Vienna, Austria, in 1942. They lived in the camp until the International Red Cross took over administration of the camp from the Germans on May 2, 1945. The family then was transferred to the Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany where they lived until their immigration to the United States in 1948.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Irregularly, cut, rectangular, light brown paper coupon. The front has printed graphics with German text in black ink. There are entry boxes and lines that are filled in by hand in blue ink. In the lower left corner is a stamped fish in blue; an illegible signature bottom center; a numerical stamp, 5525, superimposed over the center of the coupon. The reverse has stamped German text. There is a row of coupon boxes missing from the top where they were clipped off for use.
Subjects
- Jews--Austria--Vienna.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Germany--Deggendorf.
- Concentration camp inmates--Czech Republic--Terezín (Ustecky kraj)
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Austria--Vienna--Personal narratives.
- Jewish refugees--Germany--Deggendorf.
- Jewish families--Austria--Vienna.
- World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Austria.
Genre
- Exchange Media
- Object